London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Monday, Jul 21, 2025

Boris Johnson allies furious as Keir Starmer hires Sue Gray as chief of staff

Boris Johnson allies furious as Keir Starmer hires Sue Gray as chief of staff

Friends of former PM say appointment calls into question parliamentary inquiry into whether Johnson misled MPs
Allies of Boris Johnson have launched an all-out effort to scupper a parliamentary inquiry into Partygate after the senior official who led an initial inquiry into the scandal was unexpectedly unveiled as Keir Starmer’s new chief of staff.

The hire is a major coup for Starmer, who has been looking to appoint a veteran civil servant to prepare the party for government.

But in a furious response, a friend of Johnson said the decision of Sue Gray to work for Labour, 10 months after her report into gatherings in and around Downing Street during lockdown greatly undermined him, called her findings into doubt.

This, in turn, the friend said, meant the cross-party privileges inquiry of MPs into whether Johnson misled parliament was now in doubt, on the basis that it was led by Gray’s information.

“The privileges committee have taken to Sue Gray’s report as the fundamental basis of their investigation, and they have got Sue Gray’s unredacted evidence,” they told the Guardian.

“So I don’t see how if the privileges committee is going to proceed, how it can use Sue Gray’s findings, knowing that the orchestrator and investigator of those findings is now Keir Starmer’s chief of staff. Labour have scuppered the key evidential core of that investigation.”

The investigation was set up by a Commons vote, however, and can only be disbanded in the same way, making such a move unlikely.

Johnson has previously sought to undermine the inquiry by releasing a legal opinion calling into question its remit and validity, at a public cost of almost £130,000.

In a move that caused shock in Westminster, Gray was unveiled on Thursday as Starmer’s choice for his new chief of staff. The veteran official, who has led numerous investigations into ministerial misconduct and served for decades in Whitehall departments, has resigned from her civil service role.

Labour said she had been offered the role and hoped to accept it in line with advice from the appointments watchdog. The news has drawn a furious response from Conservatives, with one Whitehall official saying No 10 was “gobsmacked”.

A party spokesperson said: “The Labour party has offered Sue Gray the role of chief of staff to the leader of the opposition. We understand she hopes to accept the role subject to the normal procedures. Keir Starmer is delighted she is hoping to join our preparations for government and our mission to build a better Britain.”

Confirming Gray’s resignation, a Cabinet Office spokesperson said they were “reviewing the circumstances under which she resigned” and the department is understood to be making inquiries into whether she accepted an appointment before informing the appointments watchdog.

Labour said Gray’s acceptance was still subject to approval by the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments, which can advise gaps of several months on senior ex-ministers or civil servants who want to take up new jobs.

A senior Labour official said there were similar hirings by the Tories in the run-up to the 2010 election, including the Treasury’s James Sassoon and ex-army chief Sir Richard Dannatt.

The appointment prompted a furious reaction from some Conservative MPs and threatens to reignite months of arguments about the scandal.

On Thursday evening, Jacob Rees-Mogg called for an inquiry into Gray’s contacts with the Labour party, and said her decision to to take a job with Labour “invalidates” her report into lockdown parties in Downing Street.

Speaking on GB News, the former business secretary said: “It is hard not to feel that she has been rewarded and offered a plum job for effectively destroying a prime minister and creating a coup.

“This blows apart the idea of civil service impartiality … this appointment invalidates her Partygate report and shows that there was a socialist cabal of Boris haters who were delighted to remove him.”

Bassetlaw MP Brendan Clarke-Smith said he was “genuinely shocked” and accused
Starmer of having “scant regard for the public image of the civil service and the damage this will do”.

The move, the friend of Johnson argued, “brings into question the entire foundation of the Partygate story”.

They added: “For us, it really does cause a lot of doubts on Sue Gray’s report and the process that she led. I think there are some key questions that anybody would want answered – when did she begin to have these discussions with Labour?

“The politics of this are very, very difficult for the civil service clearly because she had an incredibly decisive role in putting together the process which ultimately led to the prime minister’s resignation. And now she is Keir Starmer’s most senior political appointee.”

The theory of a plot is arguably diminished by the fact that Gray was appointed to lead the inquiry by Johnson’s No 10, after the cabinet secretary, Simon Case, recused himself over claims he had attended some gatherings. There has also been nothing to indicate the events detailed in Gray’s published report were not accurate.

Starmer axed his previous chief of staff, Sam White, last year, moving key parts of his operation to Labour headquarters under the direction of his close ally Morgan McSweeney, saying the party was now on an election footing.

Starmer was said to have been seeking a chief of staff in the mould of Tony Blair’s recruitment of the diplomat Jonathan Powell to help prepare a team and shadow cabinet that are relatively inexperienced when it comes to government.

Powell on Thursday evening said Gray’s appointment was “another sign that Labour is ready to take over the reins of power from an exhausted and fractured Conservative party”.

Others who have been rumoured to be in Starmer’s sights include the former Treasury permanent secretary Tom Scholar and the former Brexit negotiator Olly Robbins.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
Microsoft, US Lab to Use AI for Faster Nuclear Plant Licensing
Trump Walks Back Talk of Firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Irish Tech Worker Detained 100 days by US Authorities for Overstaying Visa
Dimon Warns on Fed Independence as Trump Administration Eyes Powell’s Succession
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Jeff Bezos Considers Purchasing Condé Nast as a Wedding Gift
Ghislaine Maxwell Says She’s Ready to Testify Before Congress on Epstein’s Criminal Empire
Bal des Pompiers: A Celebration of Community and Firefighter Culture in France
FBI Chief Kash Patel Denies Resignation Speculations Amid Epstein List Controversy
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Google Secures Windsurf AI Coding Team in $2.4 Billion Licence Deal
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
South African Police Minister Suspended Amid Organised Crime Allegations
Nvidia CEO Claims Chinese Military Reluctance to Use US AI Technology
Hong Kong Advances Digital Asset Strategy to Address Economic Challenges
Australia Rules Out Pre‑commitment of Troops, Reinforces Defence Posture Amid US‑China Tensions
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
U.S. Resumes Deportations to Third Countries After Supreme Court Ruling
Excavation Begins at Site of Mass Grave for Children at Former Irish Institution
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
EU Delays Retaliatory Tariffs Amid New U.S. Threats on Imports
Trump Defends Attorney General Pam Bondi Amid Epstein Memo Backlash
Renault Shares Drop as CEO Luca de Meo Announces Departure Amid Reports of Move to Kering
Senior Aides for King Charles and Prince Harry Hold Secret Peace Summit
Anti‑Semitism ‘Normalised’ in Middle‑Class Britain, Says Commission Co‑Chair
King Charles Meets David Beckham at Chelsea Flower Show
If the Department is Really About Justice: Ghislaine Maxwell Should Be Freed Now
NYC Candidate Zohran Mamdani’s ‘Antifada’ Remarks Spark National Debate on Political Language and Economic Policy
×